Skip to Content
Skip to Footer

Customer Engagement

Salesforce Delivers Field Service Lightning, Redefining Field Service for the Connected Era

Built on the world’s #1 Customer Service platform, Field Service Lightning harnesses the latest mobile and IoT technologies, enabling companies to del

Built on the world’s #1 Customer Service platform, Field Service Lightning harnesses the latest mobile and IoT technologies, enabling companies to deliver connected, intelligent customer service from phone to field


Employees in the field are now empowered with a modern, information-rich mobile experience, enabling them to deliver service far exceeding customer expectationsSAN FRANCISCO—March 15, 2016—Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the Customer Success Platform and world’s #1 CRM company, today delivered Field Service Lightning, a new field service solution built for today’s connected world. Harnessing signals from connected devices and customer data from Salesforce, Field Service Lightning is a modern approach to field service that is built for mobile and the Internet of Things (IoT). With Field Service Lightning, companies can now unite customers, connected devices, agents, dispatchers, and employees in the field with one powerful service platform to deliver a seamless customer experience from phone to field.

The Future of Field Service: Connected, Mobile & Intelligent
Today, 6.4 billion connected things are in use and by 2020, that number will reach 20.8 billion, according to Gartner. The implications for field service are staggering. As connected devices become smarter and more predictive, it will create new opportunities to reinvent the customer service experience. Yet, since its inception, field service has been disconnected from customers and the service organization, creating disjointed customer experiences and limiting field employees’ effectiveness. This problem will only be exacerbated as more devices come online. In fact, in Salesforce’s 2016 Connected Manufacturing Service Report, an overwhelming 92% of service executives believe they need to adapt their service models in order to keep up with customers’ needs. Additionally, despite the huge service opportunities that IoT presents, only 19% of service executives surveyed have an IoT strategy.

Field Service Lightning: Connecting Phone-to-Field
Built on Service Cloud, the world’s #1 customer service platform, Field Service Lightning enables companies to deliver mobile, intelligent customer service from phone to field. With Field Service Lightning, companies can:

Connect their entire service workforce: Field Service Lightning connects the entire service organization from call center to the field. Agents, dispatchers and mobile employees in the field are on a single, centralized platform, bringing a new level of transparency and efficiency to customer service. Service agents have a 360-degree view of the customer and can create a work order from any case. Mobile employees in the field now have access to the customer’s full service and purchasing history, empowering them to easily resolve any issue that may arise and possibly upsell the customer on another product. For instance, a homeowner requests a service visit because their Internet connection has gone down. After resolving the issue, the technician sees within the field service app that the homeowner has previously asked about a faster Internet connection. Using this insight, the technician presents new packaging options and the customer upgrades to a faster Internet speed at a discounted rate.

Intelligently schedule and dispatch work: At the core of field service is scheduling and dispatching. Leveraging features from ClickSoftware like scheduling and optimization, Field Service Lightning takes dispatching one step further by applying a layer of intelligence. Scheduling is automated based on skills, availability, and location to optimize on-site service. Rules can be put into place to automatically assign senior field employees to complex service issues, and junior field employees to the routine service calls. Because scheduling is automated, dispatchers can focus on the real-time view of service operations and adjust resources accordingly. For example, if the first job of the day ends up taking longer than anticipated, a dispatcher can assign a different field employee to the next job so the customer’s appointment does not get delayed. Or if a mobile employee gets delayed by traffic, a dispatcher could route another field technician to the job.

Track and manage jobs in real-time: Customer service moves fast and forward-thinking companies need real-time access to their service data. Field Service Lightning enables all service employees to update work orders, issue change requests and adjust job status, anytime, anywhere and on any device. A staggering 65% of field service workers still print out their service tickets and bring them in their vehicles, slowing down the service process. Now, an employee in the field can see their open work orders on their mobile device, update them throughout the day as they complete jobs, and all the information is seamlessly updated in Salesforce.

Comments on the News:
"We are just beginning to see what customer service can look like in the era of mobile and IoT,” said Mike Milburn, SVP and GM, Service Cloud, Salesforce. “Field Service Lightning gives companies the ability to reinvent their approach to service by connecting the phone to the field on a single platform, resulting in an amazing customer experience.”
“Field service operations remain a bastion of antiquated systems in many organizations. With the advent of IoT and more objects becoming connected, field service will only become more complex and critical to the success of service organizations,” said Mary Wardley, vice president, CRM Applications and Customer Experience Software, IDC. “Having a complete end-to-end view of the entire customer service experience – from purchase to installation to maintenance – will allow companies to grow customer loyalty and engagement.”
“STANLEY provides products and solutions to more than 17,000 healthcare and senior living facilities worldwide. Field service is integral to our service approach – monitoring our systems from the day of install allows us to plan our on-site services, get in touch with customers at the time that is best for them, and ensure we deliver on our promise to enhance security and safety for healthcare residents, patients and clinicians,” said Amihai Zeltzer, associate vice president, Global Technical & Digital Services, STANLEY Healthcare. “Service Cloud has enabled us to connect with our customers in whole new ways – whether through proactive service or by connecting with them on-site."

Pricing and Availability
Field Service Lightning is expected to be generally available on March 15, 2016.
Field Service Lightning starts at $135 for organizations that have at least one Enterprise Edition or Unlimited Edition Service Cloud license.

Additional Information
To learn more about Field Service Lightning, please visit: http://www.salesforce.com/fieldservicelightning
To learn more about the 2016 Connected Manufacturing Service Report, please visit: https://www.salesforce.com/assets/pdf/industries/2016-connected-services.pdf
To learn more about Service Cloud, please visit: https://www.salesforce.com/service-cloud/overview/

Connect with Salesforce
Like Salesforce on Facebook http://facebook.com/salesforce
Follow @salesforce and @servicecloud on Twitter


“Safe harbor” statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements relating to the future availability of certain services, features and pricing. The achievement or success of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements involves risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If any such risks or uncertainties materialize, or if any of the assumptions prove incorrect, the company’s results whether and when such services, features and pricing become available could differ materially from the results what is expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements we make. Further information on factors that could affect the company’s offerings and its financial and other results is included in the reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K and in other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including the company’s most recent Form 10-K. These documents are available on the SEC Filings section of the Investor Information section of the company’s website at www.salesforce.com/investor. Salesforce.com, inc. assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

Salesforce, Salesforce Lightning, and others are among the trademarks of salesforce.com, inc. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.


About Salesforce

Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, empowering companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way through the power of CRM + AI + Data + Trust on one unified platform: Einstein 1. For more information visit: www.salesforce.com. 

Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase Salesforce applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRM." For more information please visit https://www.salesforce.com, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.

Astro

Get the latest Salesforce News